Montini’s rally stuns Cyclones

Sunday

Aug 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2008 at 9:53 PM

After Lombard Montini High School had pulled off the comeback by beating Sacred Heart-Griffin 34-31 Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, Montini football coach Chris Andriano knew what his team had done and SHG coach Ken Leonard knew what his team had to do.

ROBERT BURNS

After Lombard Montini High School had pulled off the comeback by beating Sacred Heart-Griffin 34-31 Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, Montini football coach Chris Andriano knew what his team had done and SHG coach Ken Leonard knew what his team had to do.

“I told my kids that this was the greatest comeback in the history of our school,” Andriano said. “This was about character: I am so proud that they never said die.”

Montini (1-0) rallied from a 31-14 deficit seconds into the fourth quarter to score 20 unanswered points in the final 9 minutes 38 seconds. The game-winning touchdown came on a plunge from the 1 by quarterback Tom DiChristina as time ran out.

It was the second straight win for Montini over SHG. The Broncos claimed a 34-24 decision in last year’s season opener.

Defense took a holiday, as the respective quarterbacks each threw for more than 300 yards. DiChristina completed 26 of 42 attempts for 360 yards and two touchdowns. The Broncos passed for a total of 435 yards, while rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

Both teams, essentially running the same type of spread offense, also displayed effective running games. The Broncos’ Matt Sloan led all rushers with 127 yards on 18 carries and a key touchdown in the fourth quarter. SHG’s Gary Wilson had 71 yards on 13 carries with two TDs.

“If we can’t stop them, then we had to outscore them,” Leonard said of Montini. “We moved the ball, but we never had it much. And we didn’t finish a couple of times; we have to get better.”
Sacred Heart-Griffin’s Tim Dondanville hit 26 of 34 attempts for 303 yards and two TDs, with his one interception in the fourth quarter spelling the beginning of the end for the defending Central State Eight Conference champions.

SHG (0-1) appeared to be in control from the start, as John Lantz took the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. The senior caught a 19-yard TD pass on the Cyclones’ first series to put his team up 14-0.

Leading 28-7 at halftime on a pair of Wilson touchdowns — a 13-yard run and a 18-yard pass — SHG, rated No. 3 in The Associated Press Class 6A poll, appeared to have the momentum.
But Montini began their rally by capping a 12-play, 80-yard drive in the third quarter on a perfectly executed halfback pass from Brendan Shannon to Jeff Spokes from 27 yards out to make it 28-14.

The Cyclones’ Gus Bloink atoned for a 47-yard field goal miss in the third quarter to hit one from 34 yards out with 11:01 remaining to put Sacred Heart-Griffin up 31-14.

Montini, with Andriano changing its defensive scheme to a more aggressive man-to-man in the defensive backfield, held the Cyclones on their ensuing two series while scoring twice on a 15-yard run by Matt Sloan to cut SHG’s advantage to 31-21 with 9:38 remaining.

After Bloink missed a 26-yard field goal with just under 6:00 left, Montini started the uncomfortable feeling for SHG partisans when DiChristina hit a wide-open Shannon over the middle for a 64-yard score with 3:35 remaining.

Down 31-28, Montini got the break when a Dondanville pass over the middle was tipped and intercepted by linebacker Ryan Gorrell, giving the Broncos possession on their own 39 at 2:44.
“That was on me,” Leonard said. “I should have had more faith in our running game. I take the blame.”

Montini moved the ball to the SHG 1 on 11 plays, scoring on a fourth-and-goal with :1.8 seconds remaining. DiChristina went right between the center and right tackle, the effort followed by a surprising number of fans who made the three-hour trip from Lombard storming the field.

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